We met as arranged and I had a good idea of which way the session would go from our phone and email conversations. After the skills health check I unidentified the areas that needed work and also a few set up changes that would assist in Tina's riding position.
We worked through unweighting the front of the bike and onto the pumping technique, Tina really got to grips and found the rhythm of the pumping pretty quickly. From there we moved onto cornering and really worked on her footwork and looking into the next section on the trail. I controlled the speed as we focused on the missing skills enabling Tina to concentrate on the task.
We then worked on linking sections on the trail together and Tina relaxed as she became more confident and her commitment raised.
I then worked on the drop technique and after a few tweaks, Tina began to really enjoy the drop technique as she began flying through the air and landing in a controlled manner.
Awesome session Tina!
hi tony, thanks mate, i'm just back from riding glentress and innerleithen.
ReplyDeleteright from the start i noticed how much more confident and efficient i was at riding switchbacks. although i knew that looking forward was what i had to do last year, i clearly hadnt been doing it!! i was amazed at the difference.
my awareness of my heels and concentrating on keeping them down enabled me to tackle rooty bits much more confidently than last year.
these two techniques meant i spent more time on the bike and less time walking. that helped my mental and emotional state which is probably my weakest area.
the highlight for me though was the steep rocky descent on the climb up innerleithen, just before the quarry. i walked it last year.
this year i made sure i got there well before everybody else so that i wasnt tired from the climb and trying to keep up with the others.
i looked at it, broke it into sections, walked down the first bit, rode the rest so i could dismiss that from the equation then came back to plan my line and approach. i knew it was within my capability. i checked where my eye needed to be at each section and planned my approach to get the line right from the entry around the corner. i thought about my body position, speed management and footwork. somehow though i just couldnt bring myself to do it even though i knew i 'could' do it.
then the friends i was riding with came along. fifteen of them rode it but four of them walked down. thats when the final bit fell into place for me. i found the committment which had been the lacking dimension. once i had found that committment, i concentrated and descended calmly and confidently, i was over the moon.
i didnt take the risks i took last year, my drop technique and landing is not controlled enough as yet so i played it safe and didnt attempt many drops that i did last year including those at the top of spooky wood.
i need to go down to that BMX track and get my pumping smoother and find a nice little drop to practise take off and landing before coming back for my next course :)